Building-block for door-jambs.



H. R. STRAIGHT. BUILDING BLOCK FOR DOOR JA MBS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV- 6,1912.

Patented July 18, 1916.

' I NVENOR. 0?. MA

. ATTORNEY HALVER a. STRAIGHT, or ADEL, IOWA.

BUILDING-BLOCK FOR DOOR-JAMES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedJuly-18, 1916.

Application filed November 6, 1912. Serial No. 729,912.

making machines provided with suitable dies, whereby the blocks may beformed complete ready for burning; and further to provide a buildingblock of this kind that may be readily and easily set in position at thesides of an opening in a building, and when so set the building blockitself will form a mold to receive cement or the like which cement mayenter and fill the building block and also the adjacent portions ofordinary hollow tile blocks used for making walls to thereby form acompleted structure in which nothing is visible from the exterior exceptthe vitrified tile, and at the same time the walls and door frames willbe firmly and rigidly united and held in place and reinforced by theconcrete or other material within the hollow tile.

A further object is to provide a frame of this kind that may be readily,quickly and easily shaped by the operator who is con structing thebuilding so that the frame tile may be adapted for use in connectionwith hollow tile walls of different thicknesses.

A further object is to provide a building block of this class that maybe readily and easily shaped to receive cross braces also made of hollowtile and designed to be permanently united with the tileframe membersbymeans of a filling of cement or the like, and at the same time formingav mold for receiving the cement and for uniting said cross bracespermanently to the sides of the door frame.

A further object is to provide a building block of this class that maybe readily and easily adapted for forming the sides, top and bottom of awindow frame for a wall made ofhollow tile.

R. STRA1GHT,

a building block especially designed to coact with an ordinary silo doorfor the purpose of forming a substantially air-tight joint between thedoor and the building block; and also in this connection to 'provide abuilding block which may be. used interchangeably on either side of adoor frame and which is also adapted to receive and support a window ordoor frame, made of wood or other material, on the interior of the tiledoor frame.

My invention consists in certain details,

in the construction, arrangement and'combination of the various parts ofthe device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, ashereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in mycljaims andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure 1 shows an end elevation of a building block embodying myinvention. ,Fig. 2 shows a detail, horizontal, sectional view on theline 2 2' of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 shows a front elevation of a part of'abuilding such as a silo having .a door opening "therein embodying myimprovements and having parts broken away to show the manner in whichthe cross braces and side members of the door frame are filled withconcrete and reinforced by wires'or rods. Fig. 4: shows an enlarged,detail, sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 shows anenlarged, detail, perspective view of one end of a tile embodying myinvention showing apart of the inner side of the block re: moved 'toreceive the tile cross braces. Fig. 6 shows a detail, perspective viewof the modified form of my invention illustrating beveled ends forforming rectangular window frames, .and Fig. 7 shows a side elevation ofa part of a building having a rectangular window frame placed therein,the building blocks for the frame being provided with beveled ends, asshown in Fig. 6.

Referring tothe accompanying drawings, it is obvious that my improvementcan be manufactured from clay by the use of the same machines as areordinarily employed completed building block after having been shaped ina machine of this kind is then burned or vitrified in the ordinarymanner. The building block which embodies my invention comprises twostraight side walls 10, a straight inner face member 11, an

the requirements.

outer face member 12 and a central bracing member 13. 'At the ends ofthe inner face member 11 two shoulders 14 are formed and in eachshoulder is a recess 15 for purposes hereinafter made clear. In theouter face member 12 two longitudinal notches 16 are formed, extendingfrom the exterior to a point slightly spaced apart from the interior ofthe outer face member 12 so that an operator may readily and easilybreak out the central portion of the outer face member between thesenotches. The distance to which these notches can be spaced apart, whenthe tile is made, can be varied to suit The reference numeral 17 is usedto indicate ordinary hollow tile building blocks designed to be used inconnection with my improved door frame building blocks.

The numeral 18 indicates an ordinary hollow tile block designed to beused for forming cross braces between the sides of a window frame madeof mydmproved building blocks.

My improved building blocks are especially designed to be used inconnection with structures such as silos and when so used the buildingmay be erected or constructed as follows: First, the building walls aremade of ordinary hollow tile and suitable openings left therein for thedoor frame, then the operator who is constructing the buildingbreaks-out of each of the building blocks that form the door frames somuch of the outer-wall member 12 as is necessary to building. This maybe readily and easily done by breaking the material forming my improvedbuilding blocks along the proper ones of the notches 16 Then my improvedbuilding blocks are placed in upright positions with the adjacent endsof the building blocks that form the walls inserted into the outerportions of the door frame blocks through the opening made by theremovalof the parts broken away along the notches 16. The manner in which thewall blocks are admitted into the frame blocks is illustrated in Figs. 2and 3. Obviously the operator need not exercise great care and skill inhaving the ends of the wall building blocks made smooth and even for thereason that all of these ends are concealed by the door frame buildingblocks and the openings therein are also covered by the door framebuilding blocks. When one or more of the door frame building blocks arethusplaced in position the structure is strengthened, re nforced and theparts firmly united by pourlng into the upper ends'of-the door framebuilding blocks a quantit' of contions of the wall building blocks, asshown in Fig. 3.

At the point where it is desired to provide cross braces for the doorframe, the operator cuts away from the inner member 11 near the top asmall portion of said member, as illustrated in Fig. 5. He then places ahollow 'tile cross brace 18 in position projecting through the innerpart of the door frame member, as illustrated in Fig. 3. Then suitablebinding or reinforcing wires or rods 19 are extended through the crossbrace member 18 and through the door frame members into the blocksforming the wall members and then the cross brace member 18 may befilled with concrete material to break the small opening through the topand connecting all of these parts. The next door frame members that areplaced above the cross brace member are then broken away at their lowerinner portions so that they mayfit over the top half of the cross bracemember 19, as illustrated in Fig. 4, so that when completed the exposedportions of the entire structure are all of vitrified tile, and althoughall of the portions adjacent to the door frame structure are reinforcedby solid cement orconcrete, none of these is exposed and therefore avery neat and finished appearance to the structure is provided.

By having the shoulders 14 on the inner face of the door frame blocks, Iprovide for forming a substantially air-tight joint with an ordinarysilo door which is placed in position from the interior of thestructure, as shown in Fig. 2, the door being indicated by thenumeral20. The door rests against the shoulder 14' and is held firmly inposition by the pressure of the ensilage or other material Within thesilo. If desired the groove 15 may be used to receive a packing materialsuch as soft rope to aid in forming a tight joint.

In the modified form of my invention illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, Ihave beveled the end portions of the building block at 21, and thus arectangular window frame may be made of these blocks alone in the mannerillustrated in Fig. '7 with the adjacent portions of the wall on allsides admitted into the window frame blocks, and the parts may all beunited and braced by filling the window frame blocks and the adjacentportions of the wall blocks with cement in the manner described.

In a building block of this kind that is made of vitrified clay, itwould be impracticable to Wholly remove a portion of the outer face ofthe building block when the building block is being originally made forthe reason that the adjacent sides would then be unsupported and Whensubjected to the intense heat required for vitrifying the side wallswould not retain their proper shape; therefore when building blocks aremade, according to my invention, of such material as vitrified clay, theouter face member must be left in position until after the material hasbeen yitrified.

In practice it has been found very easy for an operator, whenconstructing a building, to remove such portions of the outer wallmemher as he may desire and as may be required to fit the wall at thetime the building is being constructed.

I claim as my invention:

1. A building block formed of Vitrified clay, and comprising parallelsides, an inner member, a convex outer member, the said inner memberbeing narrower than the dis-- tance between the parallel sides to formshoulders, the outer member being provided with longitudinal notches,for the purposes stated.

2. In a building block for forming frames of openings in buildingscomprising side walls parallel to each other, a longitudinal partitionbetween said members and perpendicular to the inner and outer wallmembers, said inner Wall members having longitudinal slots opposite theinner edges ofsaid-side members, and the outer members being providedwith longitudinal shoulders to receive a door, and longitudinal groovesin each of said shoulders. I

3. A building block formed of vitrified clay, and comprising parallelsides, an inner member, a convexed outer'member, a central partitionbetween the side members, the said inner member being narrower than thedistance between the parallel side to form shoulders, the said shouldersbeing provided with longitudinal grooves, and the outer member beingprovided with longitudinal notches for the purposes stated.

4. In a building block for forming framesof openings in buildings,comprising parallel I-IALVER R. STRAIGHT.

Witnesses:

EARL L. WEBB, E. W. DINGWELL.

